undone deal?
Cher public, you may recall that it was La Cieca who was the first to break the story that Gérard Mortier was under consideration to be the next General Manager of the New York City Opera, not quite a week before confirmation appeared in the moribund print media. Since then the irreverent intendant has made a lot of headlines here and elsewhere.
Well, now you should be prepared for a shock, cher public, or at least for what may be the biggest story of the year. La Cieca hears a whisper that the Mortier/NYCO deal has gone sour, leaving the company rudderless beginning in 2009. Of course, your doyenne is probably wrong (she so often is!) but, on the chance that she’s not, well, remember you heard it here first!
UPDATE: A member of the cher public has forwarded La Cieca a thought-provoking clip from Daily Yomiuri Online. Sylvain Cambreling (Mortier’s “longtime collaborator,” per the New York TImes) has been named principal conductor of The Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, effective April 1, 2010. The tipster notes “…Tokyo Opera City would be thrilled to get their hands on a star like Mortier if he were so inclined. And I bet they’re fully funded there…”
Mortier is a boob. I hope you are right about the news. I am surprised there was not an intifada at the news of his appointment to the New York City Opera.
Of course I have to add that I have only been to the New York City Opera once to see the dazzlingly effervescent Elizabeth Futral as Semele. In an interview in Opera News Futral actually equated herself with Renee Fleming. Is that not cute? La speranza che delude sepmre.
Good! They can install someone solidly English and be done with it.
Call me crazy…but there is the Met and then there is the NYCO. Which one would you choose?
Don’t lie.
Josephine: In fact Futral is very like Fleming, only without the dowager’s hump.
La Cieca, please, please, please tell us more.
Well, whatever happens, I just hope NYCO doesn’t go kaput. We need another opera company that’s NOT the Met in this town. Even if recent seasons have been spotty, it still has done some good work. (Vanessa, Semele, etc.) SOMEbody has to do Britten and Handel in NYC since the Met seems to be able only to one at a time in alternate years (WHEN is that great production of Billy Budd coming back????).
When I was a voice student at the University of Illinois, one of my professors was John Wustman whom I am sure some of you know. He used to say about singers: that is world class voice. While I do not know exactly what that means I kind of know what he meant. Renee Fleming is a world class voice and Elizabeth Futral is not. So I beg do differ dear Cieca.
Renee Fleming is a star and Elizabeth Futral is a rrrrrrreally good grad student doing her best.
Me thinks Mortier had no idea of the mess he was getting into plus the added “imposition” of having to suck up to donors. But these are all just rumors….